Jason just smiled and shook his head. Then he reached for my hand. “Come on. I know the perfect place.”
I kept my hand firmly tucked in his as we walked past the people talking on phones or rushing from one place to another. Some had shopping bags and others were hailing cabs. How could I even begin to explain to my momma when I got home how unreal all this was?
“You like pickles?” Jason asked randomly.
I turned to look at him. “Pickles?” I repeated, confused.
“Yeah, pickles. This place has some of the best ones I’ve eaten.”
Oh. I liked pickles. Even if I didn’t, I would try them. I wanted to try it all. “I love pickles.”
Jason opened the door to a small café that was, in fact, packed with people. He pushed through the crowd. “Most of them are waiting for to-go orders,” he explained.
We walked toward a long table, where it looked like other people were sitting. The last two seats beside the wall were open. “Go on inside,” he said.
I frowned and looked at the other people at the table. They weren’t paying us any attention. “What about them?” I asked, confused.
Jason grinned. “They aren’t using those seats.”
“You share tables here?”
Jason moved closer to me. “Place isn’t big enough not to use every available seat. It’s the way it works. Promise. Sit down.”
I did, and he pulled out the seat beside me and sat down. A waitress was there immediately, handing us two menus and asking what we wanted to drink.
I was too busy listening to the many conversations going on at our table to think about the menu. This was wild.
“I always get the Reuben. It’s my favorite. But all their sandwiches are good. Just huge.”
I watched as the waitress set an opened-faced sandwich down in front of the guy beside us. There was more meat piled up on the sandwich than I ate in a month. Holy crap.
“Want to share?” Jason asked with an amused smirk on his face as he watched me.
“Yeah, I like Reubens. That sounds good. I couldn’t eat a fourth of that thing,” I said, glancing from the sandwich up to Jason’s pretty blue eyes.
Our drinks and a bowl of pickles were placed in front of us. The pickles all looked different, and Jason explained their differences. I didn’t want to eat a whole one and started to cut off a slice when Jason picked up the pickle and held it to my mouth. “Take a bite, Jess.”
I did as he instructed. Jason watched me as I chewed it up, and then he took a bite before winking at me and reaching for another pickle. He held each one and had me taste them. Once I had found my favorite, he handed it to me and told me it was mine. “Eat it.”
The sandwich was the biggest thing I had ever seen, but I ate as much as I could. Jason finished off the rest, calling me a wimp.
After we left, he took me to Central Park and we took a carriage ride as he told me about different parts of the park. I felt like I had my own personal tour guide. He kept me tucked against him and played with my hair while he talked. Liking this too much wasn’t smart, but I couldn’t help it. I liked it a lot. I loved the way Jason made me feel.
Shopping on Fifth Avenue was another experience. The first thing I admired, Jason snatched up and bought me. I didn’t want him doing that. So I was careful not to touch or look at anything longingly again. He still managed to watch me closely enough to see my interest in a pair of gray leather stiletto boots. Even with me insisting I didn’t want to try them on, Jason somehow managed to get the lady to bring out my exact size. Giving in so I didn’t make a scene, I tried them on, and Jason’s eyes did that smoldering thing that made it hard for me to breathe.
“We want them,” he told the lady without looking away from me.
When she took them and walked to the register, I grabbed his arm. “You don’t have to buy those,” I whispered. I had seen the eight-hundred-dollar price tag.
“Yeah, I do,” he replied. “Trust me, that was a selfish purchase.” He turned to hand the lady his card.
“They cost too much,” I said through my teeth, not wanting people to hear me.
“Can’t put a price on the way your legs look in those boots,” he replied.
My face felt hot and my heart was doing funny things. When he said stuff like that to me, it was hard to remain calm. It also tore down more of my protective walls. The lady thanked him and handed him the bag and his card. Jason took the bag in one hand and then reached for my hand with his other one.
“What do you want to see now?”